


Vision of a Kiss

by Drifter7



Category: Star Wars Episode VII: The Force Awakens (2015)
Genre: Angst, F/M, First Kiss, Fluff and Angst, Force Bond (Star Wars), Kylo Ren and Rey Are Not Related, Post-Star Wars: The Force Awakens
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-05-22
Updated: 2016-05-22
Packaged: 2018-06-09 23:42:30
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,240
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/6929125
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Drifter7/pseuds/Drifter7
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Rey has just returned to D'Qar from the battle at Starkiller base, but she soon discovers Kylo Ren is still inside her mind. She is confused and terrified, but when Kylo appears to her in a vision at night, things only become more complicated.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Vision of a Kiss

**Author's Note:**

> This is a very short, one-shot piece that I wrote under the assumption that Kylo Ren and Rey forged an unintentional Force Bond after the interrogation scene. However, I plan on writing more TFA fan fic soon, so this could very well turn into several chapters. Enjoy!

“Get out of my head!”

Though while held prisoner Rey had pushed back against the invasive presence of Kylo Ren’s mind inside her own-- pushed back so strongly that she had entered into his, seen his deepest fears, felt the dark and confused tangle of his emotions—it still felt like he had never truly left her mind. Or maybe she had never left his. She didn’t know. All she knew was that she felt naked and vulnerable, like if she turned around he would be there watching her: tall, looming, those troubled eyes searching her face. Which was particularly unnerving when she was getting undressed. She glanced over her bare shoulder once or twice as she held the bundle of her clothing against her breasts.

“Are you all right, miss?” said a mechanical, yet decidedly female, voice. 

Rey turned to the servant droid and feigned complete composure. “Yes, I’m fine. Now, how do I work this thing?”

The droid’s eyes were nothing more than two yellow orbs of light, but they seemed to flicker in surprise. “Y-you’ve never worked a bath, miss?”

Rey’s cheeks warmed. “Well of course I’ve worked a bath before… just not one like this.” She glanced at the silver tub with its nobs and buttons galore. Leia Organa had apologized that the Resistance Base was not better equipped, but this was fancier than anything Rey had ever seen. She was used to bathing only once a week at the most at the communal tub in Niima, which was little more than a grimy basin that any number of species—be they human or otherwise—had washed in before her turn. There had been no need for anything other than a cup to pour water over her head when rinsing her hair, and a cloth for scrubbing. Soap cost extra.

“You just turn this nob for hot water,” said the droid, gesturing stiffly with a metal arm, “this one for cold, and this one for mineral. These buttons over here are for different scented soaps, and these are for therapeutic oils. If you’d like a salt or sugar scrub press one of these.”

“Oh.” She felt a little dizzy by the choices.

The droid hesitated. “I can start it for you, if you’d like.”

“Yes, please,” said Rey, relieved.

“Which soap would you like?”

“Anything. I’m not picky.”

“Alderaan rose, then. That’s Leia’s favorite, concocted to smell exactly like the flowers that once grew on her beloved home planet.”

Rey nodded politely. She didn’t even know what a rose looked like, much less how it smelled. The hot water steamed up the little room, and after the droid pushed one of the many buttons, the tub frothed with pink bubbles and a sweet scent filled the air.

“I’ll take those,” said the droid, reaching for Rey’s bundle of clothing.

Rey hesitated to give up the tunic, trousers, and worn boots. They were dusty, smelly, and terribly worn, but she had made the tunic and pants with her own hands, bought the boots with her own money from a traveling merchant. Bantha leather, too—a fact she was quite proud of.

“They’ll be returned to you after a thorough cleaning,” said the droid. 

Rey handed them over reluctantly, and the droid tottered from the room. She sat on the edge of the tub and put her feet in carefully, but upon feeling the soothing heat on her sore muscles, she sank in all the way to her neck. The battle with Kylo had left her utterly exhausted. Warding off the blows from his lightsaber had taken every ounce of her strength; not only was he powerful in the Force, he was powerful physically. Over six feet tall she was sure, and probably muscular under all those black wrappings if the strength of his parrying was any testament. Her arms, neck, and back hurt from blocking his lightsaber. She cupped her hands and let them fill with sweet-smelling water, then splashed her face.

Immediately she gasped and recoiled. Her skin burned and stung in a line from just between her brows to across her right cheek. 

“What the--?” She touched her cheek carefully, then sucked air between her teeth as the pain reached searing levels. Panicked, she rubbed the humidity from the mirror on the wall to her left and peered at her reflection.

Only it wasn’t her reflection but Kylo’s, his jaw clenched in agony as a dark glove rested gingerly over his right eye. He pulled it away and stared directly at her, a bright red wound slashed across his pale skin. Emotions flooded Rey, emotions that were not her own but were so strong they almost could have been. Anger, embarrassment, self-loathing, and… and loss. Sorrow and frustration at losing her. She blinked and Kylo was gone. Her own amazed expression gazed back, thankfully devoid of injury, though her cheeks were red-- and not just from the steam. 

He wanted her? But just a few hours ago he had fought her to the very edge of a crevice, held his searing, crackling lightsaber just inches from her face. She struggled to understand it, and then she remembered his words, nearly lost on her in the chaos of battle.

_You need a teacher._

Is that why he wanted her? To mold her into a weapon he could use for the dark? But the feeling of loss that had flashed across her mind, made her throat clench and heart sink, was much more complicated than simply that of losing an object of use. 

But this was all ridiculous. Those couldn’t possibly be Kylo’s true feelings at all; she was simply delirious from exhaustion and imagining things. She told herself that, all while ignoring the dull pain that still throbbed across her cheek—in the exact same spot that she had slashed Kylo with her saber.

She didn’t linger in the bath very long after that, and toweled off and dressed in the slippers and long nightgown the droid provided for her. Admittedly it felt nice to wear something so thick and soft, as opposed to her normal, scratchy attire. Her hair, damp and tousled, she let hang loose to her shoulders—another foreign sensation since she nearly always had it tied back in three buns, and even after bathing on Jakku the dessert air had dried her hair so quickly she was almost immediately able to tie it up again. Not so on D’Qar, a planet that was lush, green, and decidedly humid.

The droid led her through the narrow stone corridor of the women’s barracks, then stopped just outside her little cubbyhole of a room. “Let me know if there is anything else you may require, miss. There’s a button just beside the door should you need me at any time.”

“Thank you,” said Rey. She entered the code she had been given upon arrival at the Resistance base, and the metal door slid open. The room wasn’t much besides a desk, lamp, and bed, but it was clean and cool. Far better than that shell of an AT-AT walker on Jakku. She went immediately to the bed, her aching muscles begging for rest. She snuggled into the padded mattress and pulled the covers up to her chin. To anyone else the military grade bedding would have left much to be desired, but to Rey it was bliss. For the first time in years she fell easily into sleep.

With her mind open and relaxed it was bound to happen. She had rather hoped it would be the island, but the vision was of Kylo Ren. And her. She was still in her nightgown, her hair loose and falling haphazardly around her face. She didn’t like that, for him to see her so defenseless and exposed. She told herself it had nothing to do with the fact that she was self-conscious about her appearance.

She didn’t know exactly where they were—the surroundings were dim and vague-- but she was certain that Kylo Ren, wherever he had been taken after the Starkiller Base had been destroyed, could actually see her too. This wasn’t a dream, or a vision meant only for her. This was entirely much too real, and his expression said it all. He blinked at her, in much the same shock as he had earlier that day when she had pushed back against his mind probe and called out his worst fear. He was free of his mask and robe, his dark undershirt partially open and slid back to reveal a bandaged chest and shoulder. Across his face was an angry red slash.

Rey tensed and out of habit reached for the staff that was no longer at her back.

“Don’t worry, I can’t harm you,” murmured Kylo, regaining his calm composure and staring at her with the faintest of grins. “This is just a vision—one that your untrained mind initiated.”

 _What is he talking about?_ thought Rey. She would never in a million years initiate a vision with him. She never wanted to see him again in her life.

He sighed and glanced away. “Confused, are we? That’s why I said you need a teacher.”

“Just leave me alone already,” she shouted. “I want you out of my head!”

“And I want you out of mine, but that’s not going to happen any time soon.”

Her brow furrowed questioningly.

“Don’t look at me like that. Since you turned me down as your teacher, I won’t bother to give you answers.”

She opened her mouth to shout again, but startling pain stopped her short. She doubled over and cupped her hands over her face.

In an instant Kylo was there, lifting her chin with his fingers. “You can sense my pain? The bond must be stronger than I at first suspected.”

Bond?? _No, no, no!_ thought Rey. Whatever the heck that meant, it couldn’t be good. Tears flooded her eyes.

His thumb grazed the cheek that pained her, and his expression turned suddenly curious and gentle. He leaned down and his lips brushed hers. She was so utterly shocked she couldn’t budge. His hand moved to the nape of her neck as he continued to kiss her, his bare fingers ran through her hair. 

She should be repulsed and disgusted, but she wasn’t. In that moment she didn’t even have to reach for the Force in order to know his mind; his lips exploring hers and his hand on her neck were enough to convey his thoughts: longing, desperate loneliness, a thrill at being this close with another person. She felt all those things, too. His warmth was comforting, his touch non-threatening. As a matter of fact, she sensed in him no lust or intention to go further at all, just the melting away of his physical and mental pain as he wrapped his other arm around her waist and drew her closer to himself.

 _But he’s a monster!_ she reminded herself. _He killed his own father!_

Her thoughts were practically an audible shout. Kylo inhaled sharply and moved away from her, his face averted and partially hidden in shadow.

“Well you are,” she said, though for some reason the words constricted her throat. “Don’t ever touch me again.”

Kylo closed off his mind to her, like a door slamming shut, but not before she felt his self-hatred and utter regret. 

“Just go,” he said. “Learn to guard your mind when you sleep and you won’t invite me in again.”

Rey opened her eyes and stared straight ahead in the dim little room. She could still sense Kylo’s presence faintly in her mind, but compared to the nearness and intensity that they had shared just moments ago, she felt almost void now. 

_Don’t invite him back._

But that would be hard, given that she could still feel the soft pressure of his lips against hers, the warmth of his breath. Try as she might, she couldn’t get her heart to stop racing.

*** 

Far away, Kylo Ren slammed his fist into a wall. How stupid of him to have let that girl get the better of him yet again. He had guessed at their Force Bond the moment it happened, though it was unintentional on his part. Probing her mind to retrieve the map had sparked it, probably because she was a Force-Sensitive like him. He should have been prepared that her confusion and lack of discipline would cause them to meet like this.

 _But you didn’t have to kiss her,_ he thought. Force, why had he done it? 

Something about her drew him. He looked down at his hand, the one he had slammed into the wall, and the very one he had used to run his fingers through her hair. It had been a long, long time since he had touched anyone without gloves. She had been so small.

_Stop it!_

He had to be careful. He was with the Supreme Leader now, and he would have to keep a close guard on his mind. The last thing he wanted was for his master to know that he had kissed that… that girl!

He finished bandaging his wounds and then pulled his shirt back up over his shoulder. He caught a whiff of Rey’s scent as he did so, like the rose oil his mother used to burn to remind her of Alderaan. It felt like a lightsaber twisted through his heart.


End file.
